The Supreme Court on Wednesday adjourned the appeal filed by the All India Football Federation (AIFF) against the Delhi High Court order setting aside its president Praful Patel’s election in December 2016 citing the violation of the National Sports Development Code of India (2011).
The appeal was being heard by a bench comprising Chief Justice S.A. Bobde, Justices A.S. Bopanna and V. Ramasubramanian.
Patel was elected unopposed and unanimously for a third successive term in 2017-2020. However, advocate and well-known sports activist Rahul Mehra filed a public interest litigation against the same with the Delhi High Court and the HC held the election illegal.
On an appeal to the Supreme Court, the order of the High Court was stayed which allowed all AIFF-elected committees to function on a regular basis, allowing Praful Patel to continue as AIFF president.
The Court also appointed S.Y. Quraishi, former Chief Election Commissioner of India, and former India football captain Bhaskar Ganguly as Ombudsmen to formulate the AIFF constitution.